The present application is directed to the providing feedback related to user behavior. It finds particular application in collecting resource usage information, comparing it to predetermined metrics and displaying this behavioral information as it relates to environmental impact. It is to be appreciated, however, that the present exemplary embodiments are also amenable to other like applications.
To face ongoing global warming issues and in general to promote sustainable development, a number of tools have been developed that help people to assess the impact of their behavior. These tools are often referred to as carbon dioxide calculators. They collect input, either automatically or from the user, and provide a measure of how much certain behaviors affect the environment, by translating those habits into corresponding units like carbon dioxide and energy consumption levels. Such tools are becoming widespread and their overall aim is in providing awareness and ultimately changing the user's behavior to reduce the impact on the environment.
Despite their simple mechanism, these tools are very challenging to design in such a way that they provide sufficient incentive to change the user's habits and use of resources. This is because even if there is a benefit to a cleaner environment, not many are prepared to voluntarily reduce their carbon footprint by changing their habits. This phenomenon is known as a social dilemma wherein on one hand each individual is pushed to exploit the resource to his advantage as much as possible. On the other hand, if everyone behaves in an exploitative manner the resource will be damaged to the detriment of all. The dilemma is to either take the selfish short term stake or to contribute to the longer term common good.
Social pressure can be one way to influence the individual's choice. Surveys of office workers have found that social pressure can affect the use of certain printing resources (e.g., color devices) by reducing their use to only when strictly necessary. At the same time, other studies of office work show that there is an increase in use of transient documents, which can be construed as superfluous in many contexts. See e.g., Transient Documents: Market Research and Field Study, E. Schrader et al (2006). Transient documents can be regarded as unnecessary in many instances as they are printed not to be stored, but to support temporary current work activities. They are originated not by document processes inherently requiring paper documents, but by the need to accommodate technology failures, like readability on screen, easiness of annotation or availability of projection support in meeting rooms. Sometimes transient documents are also printed because a previous printout is not found, or because a user is unaware that a copy already exists (e.g., on a colleague's desk). Often, transient documents are printed but remain ultimately unused.
Transient documents thus present an interesting challenge, as they are not officially part of any workflow but required only to support ongoing work. Banning the possibility of printing emails for example, is generally not a feasible option as it would disrupt work. Nevertheless, this category of documents represent an aspect of the workplace that can be optimized, such as aiming for printing only what is strictly necessary and going to be used. This resource usage, however, is something left only to personal responsibility.
Several conventional devices are currently available to track personal resource usage within an office environment. One product, Green Print, tracks resource usage in view of environmental concerns. GreenPrint is installed as an application on a user's computer to assist him/her to print less through suggesting several options that in one way or another reduce the total amount of printed pages. The system also provides statistics in terms of carbon dioxide, pages and “trees” about the obtained savings. This data provides rather simple measurements related to savings, which are compared only to what is available to print in view of what is ultimately sent to a printer. There is no comparison to any other standards such as a user's historical data or other users. Accordingly, it can be unclear how the behavior can be modified (e.g., both positively and negatively) to promote further action.
Other conventional software tools, such as PrintAudit and Equitrac, are employed to reduce print-outs within an office environment to reduce printing costs for companies, which also serves to provide a favorable environmental impact. PrintAudit sells print tracking and auditing software that tracks printing activities and allows through various features, such as redirecting print jobs from high-cost to low-cost devices, forcing duplex printing, and restricts color printing and total amount of printouts per user. These standards, however, are set by policy management wherein individual workers are not enabled to adapt settings according to their preferences. Such flexibility can be important for employees working in departments that utilize disparate resources. Moreover, none of these conventional solutions focus on peer or collective comparison and behavior changes as they relate to environmental impact.
Thus, systems and methods are needed to overcome the above-referenced problems with conventional print resource tools to provide feedback related to a broader set of contextual metrics.